The invention relates to the software-controlled production of book covers for individual books and short runs with dimensions that change from book to book, using a book cover production machine with individually designed and fully automatic adjustable single components.
Machines and systems for the production of covers for hardbound books with book covers are known in the art, by means of which book covers with the same dimensions are manufactured using identical format blanks made of paperboard or cardboard for the book boards and spine inlay and corresponding covering material. Accordingly, the rigid specifications for the machine setup have to be changed with each change in the format size of a book cover, resulting in interruption of the production process, and the manual or automatic adjustments of the machine have to be made for adaptation to the new format. This results in a time-consuming process for the machine setup, which in practice means that the automatic production of individual books and short runs is neither technically nor economically feasible with such machines or systems, which due to the rigid specification of the format size for the book covers are necessarily suitable only for the mass production of books in large quantities. The relatively frequent resetting of such known machines for high production quantities involves the further disadvantage that defective copies frequently have to be reckoned with due to the startup of the machine, so that also for this reason the production of individual copies or short runs, in particular in the case of book covering materials with print designs that change from one copy to the next, such as in the case of photo books, is out of the question.
It is an object of the present invention is to provide a method and a device for the automatic production of individual books and short runs with changing cover printing, variable format sizes and printed designs in the book covering materials that change from book to book, in particular for photo books, which can be produced with minimal personnel requirements and at accordingly low cost, as well as with minimal time requirements.